The conditioning camp for the national cricketers will start sometime during the next week as the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) is desperately trying to arrange some international matches before the Tigers' next scheduled assignment -- the ICC Twenty20 World Cup to be held in Sri Lanka in September.

The lack of international cricket is a genuine cause for concern as in the past the team has suffered a lot due to long gaps in between international assignments. Chief selector Akram Khan also seemed a bit concerned about the lack of international cricket.

“The conditioning camp will be started from next week but we are yet to decide on how many players will be selected for the camp. The board is desperately trying to arrange some international matches and we are hopeful,” said Akram.

“The long gap is really a big concern for us because we have suffered a lot in the past. So it would be nice if we can arrange some international matches, otherwise we have to arrange some matches locally to make sure the players will be ready before their next assignment,” he added.

There is a bright chance for the Tigers to visit Ireland in July to play five one-day internationals and a few T20 matches. According to sources, the cricket operations committee is also communicating with some other countries to arrange some matches and they are getting positive responses from them.

The BCB may finally be able to arrange some limited-over games to play during the gap but the more alarming issue is that the national team will next play Test cricket in November, a full eleven months after their last one.

The BCB is waiting for the supporting staff to plan the conditioning camp, as Stuart Law has vacated his position as head coach two months earlier than his scheduled departure. But the board want the camp to impart both fitness and skill training to avoid the mistakes they made before the last Zimbabwe trip where Bangladesh lost both the Test and one-day series, eliciting severe criticism.

Akram however was also in favour of arranging a special camp for the pace bowlers as his selection panel is concerned about the lack of pace bowlers in the pipeline.

“You know Rubel (Hossain) is out of cricket for a long period of time while another regular pace bowler Shafiul Islam is also not fit, so we have to think about the alternatives and that is why it will be nice if we can arrange a special camp for the pace bowlers. The worrying factor is that we don't have enough quality pace bowlers in the pipeline,” observed Akram.

Meanwhile, Rubel Hossain will fly for South Africa on May 14 and it will be determined whether there is surgery needed on his shoulder the following day.